Tapeo de Cervantes

Loved this place. First, it is a really nice place and not at all overcrowded like many other taperias. Second, the waiters were great. Very pleasant and professional. The food was terrific.
Started with an heirloom tomato salad with wild arugula and anchovies. Very delicious and refreshing. Then I had pickled anchovies with purées of avocado and mango. Again, delicious and refreshing. I finished with the tuna a la plancha. It was perfectly seasoned and cooked. Utterly delicious.
Highly recommend this place.

Amazing service and great food for a great price. Had the tuna, secreto iberico, lomo, squid with arroz negro, and empanadas. While all of the dishes were ridiculously delicious and had such interesting and complex flavors, my favorites were the secreto iberico and the squid. The iberico was crisp on the outside but had a melt in your mouth, fall off the bone kind of interior with a to die for pineapple sauce. The squid was perfectly done with some aromatic and crisp black rice. To drink, we had beer and a glass of mosto wine. Both were top notch! A much welcome change after having experienced Los Gatos earlier in the evening. For our 5 half-​ration size plates and our drinks, it cost us only 36 Euro. Talk about a steal! Would definitely come back.
I would also highly recommend getting a reservation or coming right when the doors open otherwise. We didn’t have a reservation but showed up for dinner 5 min after opening and grabbed one of 3 unreserved tables. There were groups waiting all night so we totally lucked out. This was a welcome find!
Edit: forgot to mention that I took one star off because the tuna was really REALLY salty. That said, the waiters were very friendly and nice and happy to provide recommendations either en español or English.

Fantastic classic and creative tapas options
Daily specials containing seafood: squid, octopus, cod; and meat delicacies
Service was excellent
Very popular deservedly. Reservation recommended

Perfect in any way a tapa place can be — food excellent, service impeccable, prices good — not bad at all, local produces, local and the wines very affordable, ambient nice and friendly! what else you can ask? Over a year it was out favorite.

Obvious tourist trap. I’ve been traveling all over Spain and to spite a giant collection I was served the worst vino tinto at this place. Also, they were rude (though I was not surprised).

Fuimos a cenar de tapeo y salimos contentos. El salmón con hinojo y pera riquísimo, y el camarero nos recomendó los chipis con arroz negro integral. Insípidos como ellos solos. Se lo comentamos a otro camarero y nos dijo que ese día los chipirones no eran los mejores que habían tenido, asi que nos sentimos un poco engañados con ese plato. El resto muy bien, de precio no es muy caro.

El tapeo de Cervantes ha sido un gran descubrimiento. No es un sitio especialmente barato pero la cocina es de gran calidad y vale la pena ir a almorzar o cenar (es mejor la calidad que la cantidad).
El local es pequeño pero te sirven en la mesa. La carta es variada y se apoya en las tapas, medias raciones y raciones. Para comer variado, optamos por pedir varias medias raciones y, la verdad, sales encantado.
Arrancamos por el Bacalao confitado con crema de puerros y mermelada de pimientos del piquillo, un plato muy muy bueno. Seguimos con morcilla con batata, salsa chimicurri y huevos fritos de codorniz, un plato de película (la combinación de la morcilla con la batata es genial y es algo que se sale de lo habitual).
También tomamos gambas rebozadas con miel de caña, una combinación también muy interesante (lo normal es tomar berenjenas rebozadas con miel de caña).
En cuanto a carnes, la carrillada en salsa con alubias blancas es un guiso muy muy interesante. El secreto ibérico con chutney de piña y calabaza asada es otro imprescindible y la pluma ibérica con torta del casar es algo que todo el mundo debería pedir.
Para cerrar el almuerzo, flan de higos que, sencillamente, es un espectáculo.

Tapas buenísimas. Sitio pequeño, pero si no hay sitio podéis ir al sitio de al lado que es del mismo dueño.

Really liked this place, 4* because we couldn’t get in the first attempt. 2^nd time we got there early and got a table. Food is great and nice selection of wine too. Great friendly service too :)

Highly recommended. The tapas are very good. There’s a wide variety of wine and tapas.

Wow wow wow. Amazing. We had dinner the evening before at meson de Cervantes and did not think anywhere could match the amazing dinner we had there. This place matches just in a more traditionally Spanish way. So delicious. Get the red tuna and sea bream.

Food was mediocre. Service wasn’t great. The two redeeming dishes were the rocket (arugula), with sheep cheese and red fruit (berries), as well as the pumpkin risotto. Squid and octopus dishes were tasteless. Tomatoes with anchovies was bland.

Buscábamos un sitio donde tapear y nos guiamos por las opiniones de internet hasta este sitio: todo un acierto! Afortunadamente tenían una mesita en la que pudimos sentarnos los dos que íbamos, porque las veces que lo he itnentado después sin reserva ha sido imposible, el sitio es bastante pequeño, y las mesas también, pero merece la pena dejarse aconsejar y probar unas cuantas tapas/​medias raciones/​raciones (todo lo tienen en tres tamaños). Nos gustó todo lo que probamos, pero el postre (flan de higos) ya nos dejó sin palabras. Sin duda repetiré en cuanto pueda y haya hueco!

Perfekt und ganz toll!
Wir kamen ohne Reservierung exakt 5 Minuten nach der abendlichen Eröffnung (um 18.00 Uhr) und haben mit viel Glück den letzten freien kleinen Tisch erhalten.
Und dann bestellten wir eine Reihe an unterschiedlichsten Tapas (oder mittleren Portionen) — es waren alle wunderbar lecker, liebevoll angerichtet und freundlich gutgelaunt serviert.
Mir haben der Oktopus auf schwarzen Linsen sowie die Kroketten mit Salatbeilage am besten geschmeckt; meine Begleitung gefiel das Bries und der super frische Thunfisch mit einer sau leckeren Marinade am besten.
Es ist eng, ein bisschen warm — aber multi-​kulturell und man kommt ins Gespräch. Darüber hinaus besticht der Laden einfach durch die Freundlichkeit der Kellner.
Die Bar ist der Knaller! Und zudem preislich absolut moderat!

In den Gassen von Malaga kann man sich kaum vor Angeboten retten — Tapas, wohin das Auge reicht. Leider gibt es kaum Möglichkeiten, hier zwischen den Touristenfallen und den absoluten Könnern zu unterscheiden. Und nicht jeder Merktschreier an der Hauptstrasse steht für schlechtes Essen.
Der Tapeo de Cervantes hat eigentlich keinerlei Reklame nötig. Das winzige und urige Lokal nahe am Teatro de Cervantes (südlich davon, darauf zukommend linke Strassenseite), ist zwar schwer zu finden, aber immer so gut besucht, dass man am besten reserviert oder früh kommt, um sich an einen der engen Tische zu quetschen.
Und man isst hier definitiv in der Spitzenklasse — und das zu sehr sehr gutem Preis.
Tapeo macht Tapas. Aber das auf recht unkonventionelle kreative Weise. Die aber keinen durch überkandidelten Kram stört. Man verwendet hier richtig gute Zutaten und kombiniert sie mit edlem Beiwerk.
Beispiele: Steinpilz mit Spargel gegrillt, Baby-​Pulpo-​Scheiben mariniert und angegrillt auf schwarzem Reis mit Kräuterpesto, Kurzgebratene Thunfischbrocken an orientalischem Möhrenpüree. Dazwischen solide Klassiker der Tapas-​Küche. Man wird ermahnt, ordentlich viel zu probieren, doch für 2 Personen sind 6 Tapas eigentlich genug.
Denn man bietet unumgänglich absolut maximal leckere Nachtische. Ich bin ja wirklich verwöhnt — aber die Mousse au Chocolat hier war wirklich eine Erwähnung wert. Schwarzcremig, irgendwie etwas mit Caramelcreme untermischt, so dick und gleichzeitig zart, darin hocharomatische dunkle Beerenfrüchte. Worte langen da nicht so recht aus, die Zunge vibriert noch nach…
Offene Weine gibt es auch täglich in großer neuer Auswahl. Und günstig sind sie auch noch.
Dazu netter Service. Immer schnell am Tisch, immer etwas in der Hand, immer ein Kommentar zum Teller. Und der Besitzer (Argentinier, daher auch Dulce de Leche auf den Crepes…) grinst immer wieder verschmitzt vorbei und erzählt, was er selbst gern isst…
Einer der seltenen Orte, die definitiv auf der Unbedingtwiederkommliste stehen.
Telegramm:
Zubereitung: 5 Sterne
Preis/​Leistung: 5 Sterne
Service: 5 Sterne
Ambiente: 4 Sterne
Weine: 4 Sterne

Muy bueno! Una carta original mezclando con gracia dulce y salado. Un local pequeño y muy recomendable.

Best samples, perfect execution, wide variety, local charm, internationals welcome.

Spectacular !!! 11^th day in Spain and the best meal so far.
Started w/​a bottle of 200 Monges reserve 2006 Rioja
The food can be ordered tapa, ½ or full ration we went with the ½ ration size and started with the grilled red tuna
It was cooked to perfection. The sea bream came wrapped in eggplant, delicious. grilled baby squid came with black rice, great combination. the Iberian pork special was pork belly deep fried !!! So good. We ended with 2 glass of moscatel it was so good we asked for the name of it so we could by a bottle to take home and they sold us a bottle for 14 €. The staff were so kind and helpful it was a pleasure to dine at this establishment. Best olives ever !!!

This was a great place! Really great service and food, wine. Went there two nights in a row, contemplating three. Sister location is also good.

When in Malaga, you must try Tapeo de Cervantes. This Malaga institution serves some of the freshest and most well-​seasoned tapas dishes that we tried during our week in Andalusia.
Recommended to us by the manager of El Riad Andaluz, where we were staying, Tapeo de Cervantes is centrally located near the Teatro Cervantes and the charming Plaza de la Merced.
Their assorted small plates include many tapas favorites such as patatas bravas, grilled and fried octopus, assorted cheeses, garlicky shrimp, and assorted cured meats, special attention to the famed Iberico ham.
This place is very popular with both tourists and the locals, and it’s small, so there may be a little wait for the table. Totally worth it, though. It’s a quintessential Malaga experience.
Service is decent – fast and efficient – especially in a city where customer service is not one of their strengths.

La porra antequerana, el atún con puré de batata y coliflor, los flamenquines de pollo con bravas… cualquier plato de la –poblada– carta no te dejará insatisfecho. No cometas el crimen de irte de Málaga sin probar la tarta de manzana templada con helado de vainilla… una auténtica maravilla.

Great food and wine. We ordered many different dishes and dessert afterwards and everything was excellent. The owner was always nice with the guests. It wasn’t as cheap as you would expect in southern Spain, but it’s not overpriced at all.

This tiny tapas place, which is owned by the same folks as the meson de Cervantes around the corner, is a must go to. Even in the offseason a reservation is a must — it is small and popular.
We had the anchovies in vinegar and the baby squid with black rice. This is not your standard tapas food — everything is a creation.
They had a great selection of wines and pointed us to a mid-​priced wine which was excellent. Everyone is welcoming and friendly — they take pride in their food and restaurant and it adds to the experience. They even made recommendations for us for tapas in Sevilla, our next stop.
I will be back in Malaga next week and will come again!

Sehr leckeres Essen und nette Mitarbeiter. ½ ración ist die beste Größe um ein Gericht auszuprobieren, perfekt für 2 Personen. Der Flan de Higos würde ich als Nachtisch empfehlen!

Since we only had one night in Malaga, we wanted a «best of» tapas meal and found this restaurant on Unilocal.WOW. We could not have asked for a better experience and meal. We didn’t have a reservation and lucked out by eating at the bar. We had excellent service. They helped us choose all the right tapas and wine. The ambiance was quaint and cozy. My husband and I loved every single second of our time there and left all smiley. Go. Go now. You will not regret it.

Adresse suggérée par le Routard 2013, El Tapeo de Cervantes s’avère être une très agréable surprise pour les amateurs de Tapas qui veulent sortir un peu des sentiers battus et traditionnels des incontournables tranches de jambons ibériques, de fromages secs et d’olives apéritives.
Attention, le bouche à oreille doit fonctionner à max car les places y sont chères, le resto tout petit, les tables de cette taverne espagnole très étroites, on y est assez haut perchés sur des tabourets en bois relativement inconfortables, et les va-​et-​vient incessants des barmen qui vous frôlent vous rappellent qu’il né faudra pas abuser des plats et des calories si vous souhaitez qu’il y ait de la place pour tout le monde…
Voilà pour le côté négatif des lieux, pour le reste tout n’est que de bonnes surprises, une déco inspirée sur le thème de Don Quichotte, des ardoises riches en suggestions de tapas du jour, toutes originales et savamment combinées telles que par exemple :
— filets de maquereaux marinés au Guacamole et à la sauce de Goyave
— Boudins noirs aux épinards frais sur un lit de calebasses
— Daurades gratinées enrobées dans de l’aubergine
— Beignets frits aux œufs de cailles et petites tomates
— Etc.
Le plus difficile sera de faire un choix et de laisser un peu de place pour les desserts, où la encore un dilemme Cornélien vous obligera à opter entre le flan aux figues, le crumble aux pommes et vanille, la mousse au chocolat maison, la glacé chocolat vanille aux fruits rouges et j’en passé.
Côté budget, il faut compter environ 6 euros par tapas, 2,50 euros la bière locale Alhambra 1925 et 4,20 euros pour le dessert. Certainement pas le restau le moins cher de Malaga, mais un excellent rapport qualité-​prix et un très bon souvenir pour vos papilles !

Excellent tapas. The best we have had thus far in all of Spain. This is a very small restaurant with only about 10 tables. Cute place for dates.
We ordered:
Baked potato, salmon, cream cheese and shrimp
Blood sausage with sweet potato
Spinach, walnut, cherry tomatoes and asparagus
Mixed greens, tomato, artichoke, roasted red pepper, and asparagus
Chicken kabob marinated in lemon with basmati rice
Roasted pepper filled with cod and fresh tomato sauce
Chicken and vegetable wok stir fry with sesame seeds and soy sauce
Tiramisu
Chocolate moose with berries
All of the dishes were fresh and delicious, but a little oily. They were expensive, but worth it. And the dessert was phenomenal!

Wow. As soon as this place opened, it got absolutely packed. Be prepared to sit elbow to elbow with other l! The tapas were excellent. Pork cheeks, pork belly with some melted cheese over the top, lightly battered prawns, amazingly prepared sweetbreads, just to list a few. The restaurant is run by a small family, and the food really shows it. Everything was so tasty and the service was excellent. Really recommend tinto de casa, since it was very reasonably priced, and the wine was excellent. Prices are a bit more than tapas bars on the side streets, but it was well worth it.

Ich sehe hier immer nur Tapas Restaurant. ich bin sicher im richtigen Laden gewesen, aber es war eine Tapas Bar. Meint, man hat sehr kleine, hohe Tische und Barhocker. Ein Restaurant, in dem man nett zu Abend essen kann, ist es nicht (oder gibt es geheime Hinterzimmer, dich ich nicht gesehen habe?).
Die Tapas waren gut, keine Frage. Der trockene Malaga-​Wein war ein kräftiger, guter Landwein. Der Service war familiär und freundlich.
Leider kann man wegen zu schmalem Bürgersteig nicht draußen sitzen, was schon schade ist.
Preislich liegt der Laden im Durchschnitt. Für Wein bezahlt man 2,80 bis 3,50 pro Glas, die Tages-​Tapas liegen bei 3,50.

Nous avons été conseillé par des locaux pour découvrir ce bijou de restaurant.
La cuisine est très recherchée et très soignée !!!
Je vous conseiller chaudement cet endroit avec un multitude de tapas qui vous feront exploser les papilles

This review is either a real-​life incident or a Spanish soap opera. You decide.
A girl meets a Spanish boy. Every day, they drink a caña after class, go for a walk, and share an orange. Life is good. But one day, after a not-​so-​good series of events, there was an incident that involved a Spanish boy screaming profanities not safe for anyone’s ears[1]. The girl’s plan: hop on a plane to Málaga for a bit of an escape.
Although my appetite was shot, at my friend’s behest, I mustered up the little energy I had to eat. At Tapeo de Cervantes, the kind bartender healed me through the liberal use of single malts and local red wine. We chatted for quite a while and it was a great way to practice my «woe is me» Spanish vocabulary.
This wasn’t just an exercise in drowning my sorrows at the bar, mind you. I ate some of the best Andalusian style tapas that I have ever tasted. I came back every day that I was in Málaga, that is how much I love this little bar.
Over the course of a few days, I tried:
Wild boar loin in a red wine sauce (Lomo de Jabalí en Salsa de Vino Dulce de Málaga) — By far my favorite, it was so good I ordered it on two separate nights. It tasted as though the boar was marinated in the sauce as it was so juicy and tender. The sauce had a slightly sweet, distinct flavor that complimented the mild gaminess of the meat. With a red wine from Málaga, I was in heaven!
Risotto with Vegetables and Squash — I didn’t have very high hopes, but this cazuela of creamy, smooth rice really impressed me. Very mild flavors — I would have hoped for a stronger-​tasting vegetable to provide contrast.
Filete de Dorada — This dorada with grilled eggplant just TASTED of the Mediterranean. Because it is a more substantial, heavy fish, it paired well with the red wine.
Tortilla de Algas, Bacalao y Cristales Sal — I liked this, but was not particularly crazy about it. The seaweed (yes, seaweed), bacalao, and salt worked together brilliantly but this tortilla was more like an American omelette than a whipped up, fluffy Spanish one.
And for dessert:
Flan de higos — Now that I am a flan-​making pro [2], I like to critique everyone else’s! Figs must have been pureed and disbursed through the entire flan mold because there were lots of itty bitty seeds within the flan. I’m also curious to see what ingredients were used to caramelize the top of the flan because the taste, texture, and color were all completely new to me.
Tarta de Manzana — The waiter’s (Gabriel’s) favorite! And I know why. The apple tart was more like a delicious, warm apple crumble, topped with vanilla ice cream. Best of all? The apples were tangy!
Although my next stop in my Andalusian adventures was in Cordoba, the bartender strongly encouraged me to take the AVE and return for another few nights of tapas.
Please disregard the fact that the restaurant’s website is in Comic Sans [3]. I bet their strategy is to scare away the typography snobs and leave the great tapas for those of us who can forgive such questionable behavior.
[1] Domestic violence is a huge problem in Spain. Although this is only the tip of the iceberg, I am much more aware of the trauma that many women face.
[2] Courtesy of the dad in my host family.
[3]

Vuermutlich das wohl beste Tapasrestaurant in Malage.
Einfallsreiche Gerichte, hier besondesr die Crocettas, die Dorade, der Thunfisch, die kleinen Pulpos.
Jedes Gericht ist individuell angerichtet und ein wahrer Gaumenschmaus.
Wein ab 9 EUR die Flasche, der Verdecho für 18 EUR ist dann aber einfach super, wenn auch für spanische Verhältnisse ertwas gehobenere Preisklasse.
Wir gehen seit 3 Jahren, immer wenn wir in Malage weilen, regelmäßig zum essen ins Cervates.
Und: Der Service ist soooo toll und freundlich.
Geht hin und am besten voher reservieren, das Cervantes hat nur 5 Bistrotische.

Un sitio acogedor con buenos vinos y tapas. No son especialmente baratos pero si de calidad.

Vamos muy seguido, las tapas de éste sitio no tenen desperdicio, son super crativas. Y el servicio es espectacular, te vas sintiéndote amigo de los dueños